Monday, 17 January 2011

Sepia Saturday 58 : Saturday 22 January 2011

University of Washington Library
Our tour of digital image archives takes us to the USA and the University of Washington Library Digital Collection for this image of a Californian cannery worker filling cans of tuna. The photograph, which was taken by John Nathan Cobb in the early 1930s, forms part of a splendid little collection of images with the generic title "hats". In a way it illustrates the difficulty of categorising images : good images are so full of potential categories, you could identify layer after layer of potential meaning.

Sepia Saturday invites you to submit your old images to Sepia Saturday 58 which will take place on or around Saturday 22 January 2011. You have no need to categorise them, just post them and describe them and let others wander through the various layers. Link your post to the Linky List below.
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30 comments:

  1. 21 Wits17 January 2011 at 14:59

    What a great picture. Does she love what she does, or just pleased she is working? ...and this line of work looks like real genuine labor! Thanks for our look back!

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  2. Marilyn & Jeff18 January 2011 at 20:06

    What a fabulous photo but it is very strange that it was categorised under the label 'hats'. Jeff's aunt worked in a factory here during WW2 and her photos show a scene much like the one above only she worked with vegetables.
    My entry this week is also my Magpie Tale entry but I think it is suitable for SS as well.

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  3. Becky@ My Daily Journey19 January 2011 at 16:36

    First time here.

    Love the photo!

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  4. Tess Kincaid21 January 2011 at 14:24

    Wow, that's a fantastic photo. Love the sanitary canning conditions. Yikes. It brings to mind Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle".

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  5. Kat Mortensen21 January 2011 at 16:52

    What a photo! I don't know who to fee sorrier for, the woman, or the tuna!

    I'll try to get round to as many folks as possible, but we're off to the house site tomorrow, so Saturday will be a no-show, I'm afraid. I will do my best to catch up on Sunday.

    Kat

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  6. Kat Mortensen21 January 2011 at 16:52

    Love the fact that she's not wearing gloves or anything. At least she's got that bonnet!

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  7. DougVernX22 January 2011 at 02:30

    I'm using another postcard from my collection this week. Any post in a storm. :)

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  8. Unknown22 January 2011 at 02:59

    Hats? Hats? well how do we know what was thought? How did you get vacross the sea for this one?

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  9. Nancy22 January 2011 at 05:13

    Isn't it great that we can use tags with our own photo storage systems? And about the photo above - amazing that so many of our ancestors survived the "primitive" canning conditions.

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  10. Anonymous22 January 2011 at 05:48

    I have visited the canneries in Monterey CA and it's really surprising that such a booming industry just fell flat for some reason. Now it's a redeveloped tourist section with loads of antique shops.

    I've posted a possible wedding photo of a lovely woman, and I might be headed toward a second family reunion with some old photos found on ebay! Hope to see you, and I'll get around to all that I can over the next couple days.

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  11. Christine H.22 January 2011 at 06:08

    I would have categorized this photo under Fish, but the hat is interesting too. As for the Monterey fish, those sardines disappeared due to overfishing, but they're back in healthy numbers now. I do love sardines.

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  12. Melissa, UnboxYourPhotos.com22 January 2011 at 06:42

    Posting for the first time after lurking for awhile. A bit nervous about it but thought I should just take the plunge. I finally did - but accidentally originally posted it under last week's photo! If my link under January 15 could be deleted I would appreciate it.

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  13. Alan Burnett22 January 2011 at 08:05

    Welcome Melissa : Don't worry about the stray link on January 15. I am sure there is a way of deleting it, but it is not immediately obvious to me. Anyway, it is not doing anyone any harm, so we will let it be.

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  14. Alan Burnett22 January 2011 at 08:06

    Pat Transplanted : How did I get across the sea? Swam, of course, like a fish. I can.

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  15. Bruno Laliberté22 January 2011 at 09:53

    Alright! you wanted a hat, i gave you a hat, at the last minute, since i intended to post something completely different. so, something quickly done, but which i hope you will enjoy!!
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  16. Jinksy22 January 2011 at 12:08

    And it's Saturday again! Can you believe it?! And a good day for a fishy story to be told, if we let our imagination take over...

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  17. dakotaboo22 January 2011 at 16:17

    Very topical posting this week Alan what with all the TV programmes about fish population declines, and more sustainable alternatives to tuna.

    My post has nothing to do with fish but hopefully everyone will still enjoy it.

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  18. mouse (aka kimy)22 January 2011 at 16:34

    fantastic photo... talk about hand packed tuna!

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  19. urban muser22 January 2011 at 16:55

    great photo and story. i think i can still eat tuna after looking at this :)

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  20. Cad22 January 2011 at 18:37

    Tuna rules OK!

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  21. Tattered and Lost22 January 2011 at 18:54

    I've been away again due to bandwidth issues and I have missed coming here. But now I'm back with a rather strange album found at a flea market. You'll find a link on the first line of the post to a previous post with another image from the album. It's a gem too. And strange. I will now look around at all the other wonderful posts.

    I'm glad you said it's a fish in your photo because all I could think of was Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd.

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  22. L. D. 22 January 2011 at 20:47

    Human automation was the thing back then. I wonder how they sterilized that as she is handling the tuna.It must be still cool. Maybe it is heated up then sealed after that.

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  23. Nana Jo22 January 2011 at 21:15

    After a long while, I'm delighted to be back sharing a Saturday in Sepia. This week, I'll get around to reading all your entries, I promise!

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  24. Unknown22 January 2011 at 21:54

    ahh thought I signed in last night but looks like I didn't hit the enter...oh well here I am today!

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  25. Kristin22 January 2011 at 22:56

    I never thought they actually picked up the food and stuffed it in a can with their bare hands. I went and looked at the hat album and the other photos were interesting so I have posted a hat photo too.

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  26. Kristin23 January 2011 at 00:52

    added a sepia saturday on my cleage blog. the original cleage sisters.

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  27. Your Genetic Genealogist23 January 2011 at 06:26

    Sorry I missed a couple of weeks. Glad to be back! I missed you guys. CeCe

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  28. Bob Scotney23 January 2011 at 11:54

    Sorry for being a bit late this week. Bit of a mixture this time.

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  29. Becky@ My Daily Journey24 January 2011 at 13:54

    It took me a week to realize that I did not read the instructions correctly. I am sorry. I posted a nice picture I just took in sepia... I will be more careful next time I enter a challenge; and I will definitely look for a nice sepia picture from old!

    Thank you.

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  30. Mel30 January 2011 at 05:42

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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